Bib



Sept. 26, 1950 H. L. GARDNER BIB Filed Jan. 27, 1947 FIG. 2 l7 FIG. 5 ADHESIVE ADHESIVE ADHESIVE ABSORBENT 42 WATERPROOF FIG. 8

HELE N L. GARDNER,

Patented'sept. 26, 1950 BIB OFFICE Helen L. Gardner, Washington, 0.

Application January 27,1947,seria1No.724,596 i This invention relates to bibs for protecting the clothing of a wearer and particularly concerns bibs which are made of disposable material.

General adoption of disposable bibs has been retarded by problems encountered in providing suitable devices for fastening a disposable bib about the neck of a wearer. Ordinary ties, such as are used on the cloth bibs, tend, when they are drawn about the neck of the wearer, to pull away from the material forming the body of a disposable bib.

Several substitutes for such ties have been proposed. For example, it has been suggested that a tab be placed on the under side of the bib just below the front portion of the neck opening so the tab may be tucked down the front of a garment on the wearer of the bib. This tab can be easily placed on the bib and does not tend to pull away from it, but the shoulder portions (the neck encircling members for protecting the shoulders of the wearer) tend to fall away from their position about the neck of the wearer. The result is that such a bib serves merely as a napkin.

Another proposal is that strips be used instead of ties and that these strips be provided with inter-engaging notches for the purpose of fastening them at the back of the neck. A similar arrangement of strips, but provided with adhesive tips for securing the strips together behind the neck of the wearer, has also been proposed. While these substitutes for ties have been feasible, they have not proved altogether satisfactory in practical trials.

It is major object of the present invention to provide a disposable bib which may-be placed about the neck of the wearer and securely held .in position without the disadvantages of previous securing devices.

A particular object of the invention is to provide a bib with an improved securing device which will hold the bib in proper position, but will not require tabs or strips to be secured behind the neck of the wearer.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a disposable bib having a tuck-in memher which may be placed about the neck of the wearer and tucked beneath the wearers garment to hold the entire periphery of the neck opening in position.

These and other objects of the inventionwill become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. l is an outline of a bib embodyingthe 4 Claims. (01. 2-49) .2 invention, showing the bib in position on a small child;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a bib embodying the invention in its preferred form;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a cut out for the tuck-in member before it is attached tothe bib, as shown inFig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a plan view like Fig. 3 but showing a modified form of a tuck-in member;

Fig. 5 is a' cross sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional View similar to Fig. 5 but showing the additionof a collar for the bib;

Fig. 7 .is across sectional view similar to Fig. 5 but showing a body of the bib provided with two layers.

Fig. 8 is a cross section of the bib shown in Fig. 2% applied to a wearer and showing the position of the tuck-in member beneath the wearers garment.

According to the invention in its preferred form, the body of the'bibisprovided with upwardly extending neck encircling members which are shaped toform a neck opening. The ends of these members abut to form a slit extending from the openingto the outer edge so the bib may be placed about the neck of a child or other wearer. The bib -may be made of paper-like material having an outer absorbent surface and an inner waterproof surface. Ifdesired, separate layers of material may be used, one being absorbent and the other waterproof.

On the under side of the bib there is placed a tuck-in member formed with a neck opening having its, periphery coincident with the neck opening in the body of the bib. This tuck-in member is also made of disposable material and may be easily tucked: beneath the wearer's garment.- As, will be described hereinafter in detail, the tuck-in member may be attached to the body of the bib in various ways.

. Referring now to the drawings, the bib includes abody portion [2 for covering the front or breast portion. of the wearers garment. Extending upwardly .from the body portion [2 are a pair of neck encircling members l3 and I4 whichare shaped, as shown inFig. 2, to surround the neck of the wearer, thereby' forming a neck opening .15. Ends l6 and I! of the encirclin members l3 and I 4 are arranged in' abutting relation to form a slit"l8 extending from the neck opening IE to the edge of the bib. As shown in Fig. 2, the slit 18 extends in a radial direction from the neck-opening. 1 However, since the purpose of the slit I 8 is to-.permit the encircling members I3 and I4 to be placed about the neck of the wearer, the ends I6 and I8 could be arranged so the slit would lie at an angle or on one side of the bib as long as it extends from the neck opening to the outer edge of the bib.

The present invention resides mainly in the arrangement of a tuck-in member 2| on the under side of the bib. This tuck-in member 2| may have any desired shape. As shown in the drawings, the tuck-in member has an elliptical outline to provide enlarged tuck-in portions at the front and back of the wearer. Like the body of the bib, the tuck-in member is formed with a neck opening having its periphery 22 coinciding with the inner periphery of the neck opening I5, formed by the encircling members I3 and I4.

In order to permit the tuck-in member 2| to be placed about the neck of the wearer, a radial slit 23-is out between the inner periphery 22 and the outer edge 24. When the tuck-in member is fixed on the bib, abutting ends 25 and 26 of the tuck-in member are arranged to coincide with abutting ends I6 and I I of the encircling members I3 and I4.

Garments designed for small children usually have a collar with a circular neck opening which fits rather snugly about the neck of the child. When used with such a garment, the bib is held in position by tucking the tuck-in member beneath the garment entirely around the childs neck. In this manner, the tuck-in member not only holds the breast portion I2 in position in front of the child, but also retains encircling members I3 and I4 in position on the shoulders and behind the childs neck. It has been found that the tuck-in member may be readily positioned under the childs garment by placing one of the ends 25 or 26 in proper position and then moving the hand or finger as a wiper to insert the tuck-in member beneath the garment entirely around the childs neck.

The tuck-in member 2| maybe secured to the bib in a number of different ways. For example, as shown in Fig. 3, a number of equi-distant darts 29, 29 may be cut from the inner edge of the tuck-in member 2| leaving a plurality of equally spaced similarly shaped tabs 28, 28. The tabs 28, 28 are then folded back upon the tuckin member and attached to the edge of the bib around the neck opening I as by means of an adhesive 3| (Fig. 5). The bib, as represented by the encircling member I3 in Fig. 5, is placed between the tuck-in member 2| and its tab 28. Obviously, the tabs 28, 28 could be adhesively secured to the lower surface of the bib and still hold the tuck-in member 2| in the same position as is shown in Fig. 5.

A modified tuck-in member 2|, shown in Fig. 4, may be provided with an adhesive rim 33 covering the narrow margin around the inner periphery 22' of the neck opening. As shown in Fig. 6, the tuck-in member 2| is secured to the encircling member I3 by the adhesive rim 33.

If desired, collar 35 (Fig. 6) may be arranged on the upper side of the bib I2 with its inner periphery 36 coinciding with the neck opening I5. The collar 35 may assume any shape, although it is shown in Fig. 6 as corresponding tothe shape of the tuck-in member 2| For purposes of illustration, the collar shown in Fig. 6 is secured to the neck opening I5 by a rim of adhesive. It is contemplated that this collar may be attached by any other method; for example, by the use of tabs such as are formed on the tuck-in member 2| (Fig. 3).

As shown in Fig. 2, neck encircling members I3 and I4 are formed of the same piece of material as the breast covering portion I2. Although any desired material may be used for this purpose, it is preferable to have an absorbent outer surface 39 and a liquid impervious (waterproof) inner surface 4|. The absorbent outer surface will absorb liquids falling upon the bib and thereby prevent them from flowin down the bib onto clothing below the bottom edge of the bib. The waterproof inner surface 4| will prevent absorbed substances from passing through the bib to the garment beneath the bib. This waterproof inner surface may be formed in any well-known manner as by coating or glazing one side of an absorbent material.

In some cases it may be desirable to use a laminated material for making the bib. In such a case, as shown in Fig. 7, an outer layer of absorbent material 42 would be placed over an inner layer of waterproof material 43. The absorbent material may be in the form of absorbent paper such as is commonly used for paper napkins, towels, etc. The waterproof layer may be a plastic, a treated paper, or any other wellknown waterproof material. These two layers are identically shaped and the neck opening is provided with a tuck-in member 2! similar to that shown in Fig. 4.

Any desired material may be used for the tuckin member 2|. Depending upon the characteristics of the inner and outer layers or surfaces of the bib, the tuck-in member can be adhesively secured to either the inner or outer surface.

As has been previously stated, the present invention primarily solves the problem of providing a practical substitute for ties, pins, and buttons heretofore used on bibs. This is accomplished by providin a tuck-in member arranged to encircle the neck of the wearer, and tuck under the garment in back as well as in front. Neck encircling members I3 and I4, which are best shown in Figs. 1 and 8, also cover the shoulders of the wearer. The tuck-in member 2| is arranged on the under side of the bib so it may be tucked beneath a garment 45 about the entire circumference of the Wearers neck. This is most clearly shown in Fig. 8, where the garment 45 is shown in section on opposite sides of the wearers neck. The neck encircling members I3 and I4 cover the garment on both sides. The tuck-in member 2| is tucked beneath the garment 45 not only on both sides, as shown in Fig. 8, but entirely around the neck of the wearer. Thus the bib is held properly positioned behind the neck of the wearer, over the. shoulders of the wearer as well as in front of the wearer.

This tuck-in member has particular utility in connection with disposable bibs, that is bibs made of paper-like material, because the tuck-in member holds the paper-like bib in proper position without pulling away or causing the bib to tear when it is being placed about the neck of the wearer.

As many changes could be made in the herein disclosed embodiments of the invention without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim is:

1, A disposable bib comprising a paper body portionadapted to cover the breast of a wearer,

a pair of paper neck encircling members integral with said body portionforming a substantially circular neck opening and having their ends abutting each other to form a slit extending from the inner periphery of the Opening to the outer edge of the bib, and a paper tuck-in member aifixed to said neck encircling members adjacent the periphery of said opening, saidtuck-in member being provided with a circular opening and a radial slit respectively coincident with said neck opening and a slit formed by said neck encircling members in a manner such that the entire outer edge of said tuck-in member may be tucked beneath the neck portion of a wearers garment to support the bib on the garment, the peripheral margin of said tuck-in member surrounding said neck opening being folded over said neckencircling members to provide a rounded edge adjacent the neck of a wearer.

2. A disposable bib comprising a paper body portion adapted to cover the breast of a wearer, a pair of paper neck encircling members integral with said body portion With semi-circular inner edges forming a substantially circular neck opening and having their ends abutting each other to form a slit extending from the inner periphery the inner periphery of edge of the bib, and a paper tuck-in member formed with a neck opening having a plurality of tabs around its inner edge folded back upon said tuck-in member, said tabs being secured to said neck encircling members with said opening coincident with the neck opening formed by said neck encircling members in a manner such that the outer edge of said tuck-in member may be tucked beneath the neck portion of a wearers garment to support the bib on the garment.

4. A disposablebib of paper-like material comprising a paper body portion adapted to cover the breast of a wearer, a pair of paper neck encircling members extending from said'b'ody portion to form a substantially circular neck'opening and having their ends abutting to provide a slit diametrically opposite to said body portion, and a paper tuck-in memberformed with a substantially circular neck opening and a radial slit respectivelycoincident with the neck opening and slit formed by said neck encircling members said tuck-in member being attached to said neck encircling members from one of said ends around outer edge of said tuck-in member may be tucked of the opening to the outer edge of the bib, and

a paper tuck-in member affixed to said neck encircling members adjacent the periphery of said opening said tuck-in member being provided with a circular opening and a radial slit respectively coincident with said neck opening and slit formed by said neck encircling, members in a to provide a rounded edge adjacent the neck of g a wearer.

3. A disposable bib comprising a paper body portion adapted to cover the breast of a wearer,

a pair of paper neck encircling members integral A 0 with said body portion forming a substantially circular neck opening and having their ends abutting each other to forma slit extending from beneath the neck portion of a wearers garment to support the bib on the garment, the peripheral margin of said tuck-in member surrounding said neck opening being folded over said neck encircling members to provide a rounded edge adjacent the neck of thewearer.

HELEN L. GARDNER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number the opening to the outer 

